In Fairhope, AL the mayoral race is heating up. Willie Bean, one of seven candidates, wants your votes. This wouldn’t be so strange except he’s only 7 years old and a yellow labrador.

“I think he polishes up the field,” said Vince Kilborn, 66, of Fairhope. “We need new blood.” Some of his supporters say all the politicking, name-dropping and sign-maneuvering in the seven-man Fairhope mayoral race is wearing on them weeks ahead of the Aug. 26 election.

While he may have some supporters Willie Bean also has his share of opponents.

Willie Bean may not be up for that rough-and-tumble world. “When a little dog barks at him, he cringes and he runs away,” owner Tress Turner told the Press-Register in a story Sunday.

Before you think Willie Bean doesn’t have a shot, keep in mind some of his fellow politicians who beat the odds.

In 2004, Rabbit Hash, Ky., elected Junior Cochran, a black Lab, as mayor. It was the second canine elected to lead the small Northern Kentucky town, according to the town’s Web site. The first was a mutt named Goofy Borneman, according to Laurie Lamblin, a resident and employee of the town’s historic general store.

In the Hoefinger household Willie Bean can count on 12 paws in his favor.